The Unofficial ASUS P5N-E SLI 650i Board Thread

[Tuvoc]

I don't really see why you are worried too much about idle temperatures. The temperature under load is the important one. Of course if the idle temp is "high" then it could be that the load temp will also be - in which case I understand. But the differential between idle and load will vary between coolers.

 

[JustaGeek]

Originally posted by: vicariousgeorge
Hello again (JustAGeeK, thanks for your recent help)...

From previous posts, you will notice that I had a problem with system temperatures. To combat this issue, I added 2 additional 80mm fans to my Antec TX640B case. Immediately, my temperatures dropped to a more reasonable level. However, this created another problem altogether - noise. The sound of 2 80mm fans at high RPM's drove me nuts. At first, I figured I'd get used to it, and that the benefit procured by their use offset the increase in volume. Well, it didn't.

Accordingly, I decided to purchase a case that had a reputation for being both cool and quiet - the Antec P180B. After migrating all my hardware from the TX640B to the P180B, I made the following observation: it wasn't really cool, and it wasn't really quiet. However, it was still better than my old case, and I did get a REALLY good deal on it, so all was not lost.

This brings me to my main issue: CPU temperature. Not only did I buy one of the most thermally efficient cases on the market, but I also removed the MX-1 from my Freezer 7 pro (it was already crusty after 2 weeks) and replaced it with some AS5. My CPU temps stayed almost exactly the same as before. I'm beginning to think that my E6600 has a cooling floor of 35-38C, and that no matter what I do - short of installing a liquid cooler - I won't be able to achieve lower temperatures.

I noticed that I received the L360A stepping (which apparently is one of the worst for overclocking). Do you think that may have anything to do with it? Out of curiosity, what are some of your idle temperatures?

I think I may overclock tonight too, so temperature is now even more important.

Anyway, thanks in advance,
John

I run my fans on medium speed setting, and find the noise acceptable - but my computer is located under my desk, to the left, so I am not directly exposed to the side panel fan(s).

High RPM's do get unacceptably loud though, that's why I keep it at medium.

My temps (according to Everest) are as follows:

CPU idle ~39, core 1/2 ~46;

CPU load (Orthos) up to ~46, core 1/2 ~59-60.

I am more concerned about the chipsets temps - NB measured with an infrared thermometer is about 45 (heatsink, of course), but the Southbridge is consistently ~52 deg C, with an added CompUSA heatsink. I put and extra fan from the same CUSA kit, and my MB temps went down from 43 to ~39-40 (Everest).

Yesterday, for the first time I experienced a failed boot on reboot. I have recently changed my advanced memory timings to the new ones recommended by a G.Skill tech, and perhaps that has caused the problem, but just to be safe, I've added that small fan from the CUSA kit to the SB.

Maybe it is just a coincidence, but with that fan, and Advanced memory settings on Auto, I got my best PCMark05 score to date - 7887. And it seems to me that the actual memory frequency means less that the frequency of the FSB. My SANDRA used to show 5400 MB/s with stock 1066 and 800. With FSB at 1300 and memory at 800, I am getting about 6500 MB/s memory bandwidth, with the memory left at 800MHz! PCMark05 score at stock settings was about 6800.

It seems to me that the proper cooling of the NB and SB chipsets is as important as cooling of the CPU.

 

[ElAguila]

Originally posted by: franjam
Can anybody confirm the fsb strap issue in this link?Text

I am not sure about the speeds above 400 but at 400 I have no issues.

 

[AMelbye]

Sylvanas: it says on the board in small writing just where it says P5N-E SLI. Mine is 1.01G

 

[franjam]

Originally posted by: Sylvanas

Originally posted by: franjam

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
Well I got my board a few days back, the install was surprisingly easy all I did was clear up the NB and apply some AS5 along with some ramsinks on the Mosfets surrounding the CPU area. My thermalright Ultra 120 extreme fits no problem with a Sythe S-Flex 120mm Fan.

First impressions were excellent, in that the bios is so simple to use yet has all the features you'd need, much better design than the Asus Commando (my previous board). Right now I am running 4x1gb Crucial Ballistix PC5300 (D9GHM) @ DDR1120 5-5-5-12 solid as a rock in addition to 490FSB X 7 (1960 QDR) 3.43ghz on my E6320 (1hr Orthos Stable as I write this). The option to run the FSB and memory in 'Unlinked' mode makes a world of difference as you can test the maximum of both the CPU and the RAM individually- well done Nvidia. I will try tomorrow for 500+ but for now I am very pleased- great mobo

EDIT: heres my voltages in BIOS for reference

Vcore: 1.525
VDIMM: 2.35
Vcore: 1.56
Vcore Offset: auto

Temps in Orthos have'nt exceeded 43degrees so far, but it is still running as I write this.

Hi Sylvanas, I am toying with the idea of getting a Thermalright Ultra 120 extreme, can you tell me if that 43°C on load is cpu or core temp and what is your approximate ambient temp?
With my current Aerocool Dominator I'm getting 44°C cpu temp and 59°C core temp on load at around 25°C ambient, which is okay but I'm looking at seriously overclocking a 6850 soon.
Thanks.

I would definitely recommend getting a Thermalright ultra 120 extreme if you are contemplating the idea, 43degrees is what core 0 and core 1 read within Speedfan 4.32 under Load in Orthos (usually 20 degrees Idle), the 'CPU' temp in Speedfan and ASUS PC Probe is a little lower than that. It's winter here in Australia so ambient is around 18-22 degrees at the moment so I am making the most of it

I noticed recently that under Orthos the Vdroop was around 0.05 so I raised the Vcore to 1.6 and I can now maintain around 1.55 under load which I'm happy with so it is a little hotter now but not by much. I tried 500+ with bios settings at 1.6vcore, 2.32vdimm and 1.56 NB but it would not last long in windows, so I am pretty sure I'm at the max for this mobo. I will update with some pics as soon as I get home

UPDATE #1

Heres the rig- open case on floor

Orthos 2 hours

Thanks for the info, incredible temps mate,
I previously had an ultra 120 with a Noctua fan which proved to be worse than my Zalman CNPS 9000, (and yes it was seated properly;I did it twice), so I'm a little wary of the ultra extreme, as it turns out my brother is bringing me a Thermaltake Big Typhoon to try today so I'm going to see what that's capable of first. I may also push the Vcore to 1.6v to see where the E4300 can go, as long as the core temps stay under 70°C I'm not worried, but I'm pretty sure I'm close to the limit for this processor.
I have a friend who has overclocked his 6420 to 3.6ghz stable, xx20 series seems to OC very well by all accounts.
By the way is your CPU fan sucking or blowing and what speed is it at?I also notice you have no active cooling on the NB must be bloody freezing down under.

 

[JustaGeek]

I have added the SANDRA test results to my signature.

I think it would be interesting to see how your overclocks translate into performance. We can all use the latest revision (I was getting better results with the previous editions!). It can be found here:

http://www.benchmarkhq.ru/english.html?/sandradl_e.html

Or you can find a server closer to your location here:

http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/in...are_dl_3264&langx=en&a

I believe that this would create a perfect collection of different hardware configurations translated into numbers.

 

[JustaGeek]

I have just noticed that some download sites still have the older version - SP2.

SP3 is the latest release; it is also called SiSoftware Sandra Lite 2007.6.11

One more download site:

http://www.download.com/SiSoft...war&subj=uo&tag=button

 

[Sylvanas]

Originally posted by: AMelbye
Sylvanas: it says on the board in small writing just where it says P5N-E SLI. Mine is 1.01G

Thanks AMelbye, yep appears I have a 1.01G too

Originally posted by: franjam

Originally posted by: Sylvanas

Originally posted by: franjam

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
Well I got my board a few days back, the install was surprisingly easy all I did was clear up the NB and apply some AS5 along with some ramsinks on the Mosfets surrounding the CPU area. My thermalright Ultra 120 extreme fits no problem with a Sythe S-Flex 120mm Fan.

First impressions were excellent, in that the bios is so simple to use yet has all the features you'd need, much better design than the Asus Commando (my previous board). Right now I am running 4x1gb Crucial Ballistix PC5300 (D9GHM) @ DDR1120 5-5-5-12 solid as a rock in addition to 490FSB X 7 (1960 QDR) 3.43ghz on my E6320 (1hr Orthos Stable as I write this). The option to run the FSB and memory in 'Unlinked' mode makes a world of difference as you can test the maximum of both the CPU and the RAM individually- well done Nvidia. I will try tomorrow for 500+ but for now I am very pleased- great mobo

EDIT: heres my voltages in BIOS for reference

Vcore: 1.525
VDIMM: 2.35
Vcore: 1.56
Vcore Offset: auto

Temps in Orthos have'nt exceeded 43degrees so far, but it is still running as I write this.

Hi Sylvanas, I am toying with the idea of getting a Thermalright Ultra 120 extreme, can you tell me if that 43°C on load is cpu or core temp and what is your approximate ambient temp?
With my current Aerocool Dominator I'm getting 44°C cpu temp and 59°C core temp on load at around 25°C ambient, which is okay but I'm looking at seriously overclocking a 6850 soon.
Thanks.

I would definitely recommend getting a Thermalright ultra 120 extreme if you are contemplating the idea, 43degrees is what core 0 and core 1 read within Speedfan 4.32 under Load in Orthos (usually 20 degrees Idle), the 'CPU' temp in Speedfan and ASUS PC Probe is a little lower than that. It's winter here in Australia so ambient is around 18-22 degrees at the moment so I am making the most of it

I noticed recently that under Orthos the Vdroop was around 0.05 so I raised the Vcore to 1.6 and I can now maintain around 1.55 under load which I'm happy with so it is a little hotter now but not by much. I tried 500+ with bios settings at 1.6vcore, 2.32vdimm and 1.56 NB but it would not last long in windows, so I am pretty sure I'm at the max for this mobo. I will update with some pics as soon as I get home

UPDATE #1

Heres the rig- open case on floor

Orthos 2 hours

Thanks for the info, incredible temps mate,
I previously had an ultra 120 with a Noctua fan which proved to be worse than my Zalman CNPS 9000, (and yes it was seated properly;I did it twice), so I'm a little wary of the ultra extreme, as it turns out my brother is bringing me a Thermaltake Big Typhoon to try today so I'm going to see what that's capable of first. I may also push the Vcore to 1.6v to see where the E4300 can go, as long as the core temps stay under 70°C I'm not worried, but I'm pretty sure I'm close to the limit for this processor.
I have a friend who has overclocked his 6420 to 3.6ghz stable, xx20 series seems to OC very well by all accounts.
By the way is your CPU fan sucking or blowing and what speed is it at?I also notice you have no active cooling on the NB must be bloody freezing down under.

According to AT's review the Big Typhoon looks like a good choice indeed The CPU fan is blowing across the Ultra 120 fins and then through the NB HS fins with still quite an airflow, I have the Sythe S-Flex fan running at max (according to the fan-speed controller) which I think is around 2500rpm. Additionally I have a little 92mm fan I got bundled with a mobo a while back on top of the NB (had to remove it for a clear view in the picture). Figuring out what will happen in the summer, it might need a wind tunnel to keep cool

 

[adder1971]

a scythe infinity with 2 fans in a push pull configuration also works quite well.

 

[vicariousgeorge]

I guess I'm doing okay...

When I ran Orthos for a while, my CPU only reached 44C.

 

[adder1971]

definitely nothing wrong with 44C.

 

[JustaGeek]

It is probably a good idea to re-post a link to the "Core 2 Duo Temperature Guide" on another forum. I am sure adder1971 remembers - it was originally posted some time in February.

http://forumz.tomshardware.com...ide-ftopict221745.html

It appears that anything up to the MAX. LOAD CPU 50 deg C, Core 1/2 65 deg C is considered safe.

 

[adder1971]

Thanks for the re-post JustaGeek (excellent linkage), that was a long time ago. Have to say this is my best long term stable overclock of any chip thus far. Intel has really done things right this time around. Been running for ~6months at over a Ghz overclock without any issues whatsoever. Supreme Commander loads a game in less than 4 seconds. Freakin awesome!

 

[JustaGeek]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: adder1971
Thanks for the re-post JustaGeek (excellent linkage), that was a long time ago. Have to say this is my best long term stable overclock of any chip thus far. Intel has really done things right this time around. Been running for ~6months at over a Ghz overclock without any issues whatsoever. Supreme Commander loads a game in less than 4 seconds. Freakin awesome!</end quote></div>
__________________________________________________________________________

Really good to see you back - you did a great job together with John and the others back then. I have learned a lot from you guys - thanks.

Am enjoying a modest overclock, trying not to overstress my CPU under the stock HSF.

My highest temps under ORTHOS have reached ~45 CPU, ~60 Core 1/2, so about 325MHz FSB for 2.925GHz E6600 stable overclock is probably the limit for the stock HSF.

 

[JustaGeek]

Well... Looks like I am running 4 memory modules at 800MHz - 2x1GB and 2x512MB, stock CPU speed of 2.4GHz.

Have not had time for any extensive testing or overclocking, but ORTHOS ran fine for about 5 min.

For the 32 bit XP to recognize it though, I had to activate the /3GB switch in the boot.ini file, and the Task Manager is now showing the full Total/Available memory of ~3130000/400000 K.

 

[Ilikepiedoyou]

What is a safe limit for over clocking with this board and a e6300?

 

[Tuvoc]

Originally posted by: JustaGeek
Well... Looks like I am running 4 memory modules at 800MHz - 2x1GB and 2x512MB, stock CPU speed of 2.4GHz.

That's excellent

 

[JustaGeek]

Originally posted by: Tuvoc
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: JustaGeek
Well... Looks like I am running 4 memory modules at 800MHz - 2x1GB and 2x512MB, stock CPU speed of 2.4GHz.
</end quote></div>

That's excellent

Thanks. I'll try to "raise the bar" tonight, and get back to my 325x9 OC. Hope it works - the machine felt much more responsive at 2.925GHz.

 

[Tuvoc]

No reason it shouldn't work I guess, keep us posted

 

[JustaGeek]

I definitely will.

BTW, have you tried running your memory at lower latencies? I mean, if your modules are specified as 4-4-4-12, since you are running at 711MHz, try 3-3-3-10 for example.

This way, you should be able to "regain" the RAM bandwidth lost due to the lowered frequencies.

Unless, of course, you've already tried that...

 

[JustaGeek]

I am back to 325x9 FSB for 2.925GHz OC.

Hope it holds, system seems stable thus far. Let's see if Quake 4 can take advantage of 3GB RAM.

I was getting 99% Memory use with Ultra Quality settings - the graphics were incredibly vibrant, but the gameplay seemed "jittery" when the system was moving textures in and out of Virtual Memory. Hope it is programmed to take advantage of >2GB - not too many programs actually are...

 

[JustaGeek]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Ilikepiedoyou
What is a safe limit for over clocking with this board and a e6300?</end quote></div>

IMHO, I do not have the E6300, but if you do it in small intervals (like 10x4=40 QDR), you will find out by yourself when the system becomes unstable.

I did mine Unlinked, set it to 1300 FSB, and have no desire to go higher on stock HSF.

Keep in mind the memory ratio - I picked 325, because 325/400 = 13/16. Try to find a simple fraction that the system should be able to compute, perhaps the next would be 27/32x400=337.5, for 1350QDR FSB.

But... I have never tried it! Just keep in mind the memory divider as I have described. I am not sure, but I think I have seen the 11/13 somewhere (11/13x400=338.5 338.5x4=1354 QDR) and so on... It takes a lot of experimentation, and you should watch your temperatures closely after every step up. It so much depends on type of cooling, the version of the CPU, memory etc.

And I will strongly emphasize the need for the Southbridge HS, maybe even a fan - it gets really, REALLY HOT. And all the control of the SATA, IDE, Audio, USB, PCI etc depends on it.

BTW, with the Phase-Change cooling, you can probably take it well over 4GHz. There is a great article in the July 2007 issue of CPU (Computer Power User) called "Keep it COOL". You should still be able to pick up a copy at a magazine stand, or subscribe to the Web Access - one year of the greatest computer magazine for the "people like us" for $17.

http://www.computerpoweruser.com/

 

[AMelbye]

I'm aware I've said this before, but I'm saying it again, as many people seem to be unaware: the LDR multiplier determines the speed of the south bridge. If you have stability issues and believe it's south bridge related, just turn it down to see if the system regains stability.

Regarding overclocking a e6300, and what's safe, I'd say just keep going until it gets too hot. You should be able to reach somewhere between 3 and 3.6GHz with most aftermarket coolers. Whether 3GHz+ can be considered safe is up to you to decide. I think it's safe as long as the CPU never goes into throttling, and I think it's a good idea to enable all the power saving features in the bios once you've settled on a certain overclock. This will save the environment, as your computer will use less power, and it should increase your cpu and motherboard life expectancy, as they won't be running at ultra high speeds when it's not asked for.

The only thing holding me back with my overclock is the board. It just won't go further. The CPU would be happy to do loads more.

 

[JustaGeek]

Originally posted by: AMelbye
I'm aware I've said this before, but I'm saying it again, as many people seem to be unaware: the LDR multiplier determines the speed of the south bridge. If you have stability issues and believe it's south bridge related, just turn it down to see if the system regains stability.

Regarding overclocking a e6300, and what's safe, I'd say just keep going until it gets too hot. You should be able to reach somewhere between 3 and 3.6GHz with most aftermarket coolers. Whether 3GHz+ can be considered safe is up to you to decide. I think it's safe as long as the CPU never goes into throttling, and I think it's a good idea to enable all the power saving features in the bios once you've settled on a certain overclock. This will save the environment, as your computer will use less power, and it should increase your cpu and motherboard life expectancy, as they won't be running at ultra high speeds when it's not asked for.

The only thing holding me back with my overclock is the board. It just won't go further. The CPU would be happy to do loads more.

I have read an article about overclocking of some other MB, and they recommended lowering the LDT Frequency (Hyper-Transport Bus Frequency) before starting to overclock the FSB.

In my case, Everest showed 1004.6 MHz Hyper-Transport with 1066 FSB, but surprisingly it has not changed with the 1300 FSB - it remained at 1004.6 with the LDT set at 5x.

I decided to lower it to 4x anyway, and Everest reported 803.7MHz, so it seems independent from the FSB, and a factor of 200MHz (4x~200=~800).

Don't know how it affects anything else - perhaps with a higher FSB it does not need the full 5x (I understand that the Hyper-Transport Bus is a line of communication between the NB and the SB). Will keep you posted if/how it affects the overall stability.

 

[AMelbye]

Hmm. If that's the case, I guess the LDT multiplier might not make that much of a difference. I guess the only way to find out is by overclocking a board without additional SB cooling already installed. If anyone has one?